Todoku's Love Story
by Sesshoumaru0086
Summary: Todoku, a half-breed cat, becomes infatuated with a very dangerous demon. Her vassals even weigh in with concern and a promise she made to her father, but Todoku turns a deaf ear. Doing so may end up in giving up her heart...or her life.
1. Prologue

**Todoku's Love Story**

Prologue

**A/N: I've decided that this will replace my last fanfic, The Healing Claw. I'm gonna try to make this more likable and understanding to those reading. And to those reading…THANK YOU! **

_Ahh Love, _

_It becomes…too much to bear sometimes…_

A young woman was on her way home from a gravesite. This woman was a half-demon cat. She had cat ears and tail as symbols of her mixed blood. They were black with white at the tips. She wore a short, sleeveless red kimono that went down to her thighs tied up by a thin gold obi. Her long hair was black and pulled back into a bun with red and gold ornamental hair sticks. She even wore a Chinese style of shoe worn by martial artists. Completing her outfit she wore four black cloth cuffs; two for the forearms and two around her legs below the knee.

This was Todoku, caretaker of the forest and hospital that resided there, known as the Todoku forest. She was named after this place that had a remarkable calming effect on anyone who happened to be traveling through it.

Todoku's eyes were watery after visiting the grave of the Great Dog General. He'd been a friend of the family for years. And given that Todoku had woken up from her 200-year seal a couple of days ago, she'd come to find out that he had passed shortly after she was sealed. Her father's two vassals Alanna, the tiny chinchilla demon and Inga a fallow deer demon were escorting her back home. Both of them dressed like ordinary human villagers, though they were far from it. Alanna would often be brandishing her rather large mousy chinchilla ears with her long tufted tail; and Inga, though she was female, would display tiny deer antlers on her head in addition to her fluffy deer tail. Todoku would even find herself taken with Inga's magenta eyes as Todoku's own eyes were the same color.

Sensing that she wasn't going to be able to sleep, Todoku took the night watch for any late night visitors to the forest. Inga decided to stay up with her.

"How do you feel, a little better than before?" Inga asked her. Todoku still looked very melancholy.

"Not really. I…can't believe he died. He seemed so strong…" She replied trying to wipe her face from any stray tears.

"Hmm," Inga wanted to say something, but before she could, she sensed a demonic aura. "Well, you might wanna look more presentable…Someone's coming…"

"Huh?" before she could think or even do anything, the visitor was already on the pathway leading to the forest's entry way. It was foggy so she really couldn't see him at first. She picked up a scent that seemed very familiar yet different. His footsteps grew closer and in the moonlight she could see him.

A very dashing demon walked before her on the path. He was dressed in an expensive looking red and white kimono and precious armor. He had a very large cloak of fur wrapped around his right shoulder and on his face a set of two magenta stripes on each cheek with a crescent moon on his forehead.

Todoku couldn't help but stare at him as he passed. "_He's….GORGEOUS!"_ she thought eyes transfixed on him.

"Well don't just sit there drooling," Inga snapped her from her reverie. "Go greet him! I think he has an injury,"

"Uh…right," Todoku nervously rose from her seat and stepped out onto the pathway before him. "Hello there!" She tried to smile, but he was very intimidating with the stare he was giving her. "Welcome to my forest, it's a haven for those stressed or injured…"

"What do you think Lord Sesshoumaru?" An Imp at his side requested. Apparently, he was the dashing demon's servant.

'_Sesshoumaru? Where have I heard that name before?'_ Todoku's mind pondered.

She caught sight of his right hand, it was pretty bloody. "Oh here, lemme take care of that for you," Todoku said placing her basket on the ground and reaching for his hand. Sesshoumaru obviously felt very violated that someone dared place their hands on his person.

"Unhand me! I don't require assistance from the likes of y-" Sesshoumaru pulled his hand back just to have her grab for it once more.

"Oh of course you do!" Todoku said braving pulling his injured hand closer to her.

"_How dare she touch me!"_ Sesshoumaru was outraged. He brought up the poisonous claws of his left hand preparing to slay this filthy little half-breed. That was when he witnessed her healing power for the first time. His hand lay gently between hers and her claws glowing in a blue-green light. Before long, the wound that would have been stinging him and cause him annoying discomfort through the night was completely gone.

"There you go, that wasn't so bad now was it?" Todoku gave him that smile again. "Feel free to stay in this forest as long as you need to. And don't be afraid when you have any injuries to see me, kay?"

He tried to kill her, yet…she helped him and even welcomed him into her home. He watched her as she walked away with her smile. Her tail swishing back and forth across her backside.

Inga was watching the whole thing from the treeline, she was about to shout at her when she saw Sesshoumaru's hand go up and about to strike her. When Todoku came up to her Inga had her hand on her chest as if she was trying to calm her heart.

"What's wrong Inga?" Todoku said as she came back into the trees.

"Maybe you shouldn't be so straight forward with a demon…" She panted. The shock still ravaged her.

"I know," Todoku lightly chuckled. "But something told me that if I showed him my power he would stop himself…and he did…"

"That's very dangerous intuition you have there…" Inga replied calming herself. Todoku merely smiled.

"The little kappa at his side called him Sesshoumaru, I could've sworn I've heard that name before." Todoku pondered as she tried to recall the full memory of her dilemma.

"Sesshoumaru? Wasn't that the name of the Great Dog General's son?"

Todoku gasped and nearly fell backward as it finally hit her thanks to Inga. The entire flashback of the memory even played out in her head…

-flashback-

Todoku and her father were enjoying some after dinner chats with their good friend, the Great Dog General. Todoku's father, Michodou, had just finished saying that children were a handful; meaning only to tease his little girl who gave him a playful nudge.

But then she heard InuTaisho agree with him. Did that mean…?

"You have a child?" Todoku asked him.

"Oh yes, I do" He answered before taking another sip of his tea.

"He has a little boy," Her father then answered.

Todoku smiled at InuTaisho wanting him to spill more information. "A little boy?! What's his name?" she said hoping that she could get to meet him if she begged. Maybe they were the same age and they could play together? Todoku at this time was the equivalent of an eleven year old. "Maybe we can play together! Please?"

InuTaisho's eye brows scrunched together a bit. "I'm sorry but it seems your father has lost track of time since he's last seen my son. He's quite a bit older than you are and doesn't play like that anymore…"

Well there goes that dream.

Todoku couldn't help but look a disappointed. Poor hanyou couldn't find any playmates just by being the way she was. InuTaisho couldn't stand seeing her so, he just answered her other question. "His name is Sesshoumaru. And so to speak he's training now to defend himself,"

"Ah! Like how Father is teaching me to fight?" Todoku seemed to forget her earlier distress; InuTaisho smiled with her.

"Yes. And everytime I show him a technique in fighting, he executes it ten times as good; kinda scary really…" he replied.

-End Flashback-

"You've gotta be kidding me. THAT'S THE SON OF THE GREAT DOG GENERAL!?" Todoku looked back toward the path where she left him. He was gone, but scanning the area she found him on the path leading him to the only cherry tree in her forest. That cherry tree was special to her and she even believed it held a special kind of soothing power that echoed through the entire forest.

"He's quite handsome isn't he?" Inga teased as Todoku was ogling him like she was before.

"I…well…uh" Todoku stumbled, but Inga always teased her like this. Getting a little angry Todoku decided to meet her with her teasing. "Well if you think he's handsome, you oughta try to court him, Inga!"

"Oh please, I think I'm far too old for him." Inga was 700 years old, though she looked like a young village woman despite her magenta eyes and pointed ears. "Besides, I'm not the one making stares at him…"

Inga had her there. She couldn't seem to stop staring at the very dashing dog demon that held his father's familiar scent, but was his own. She saw that he had settled down and sat against the tree's trunk. He might just be retiring there for the night. Todoku felt lucky in a sense.

Inga had gone back to prepare Todoku's bed for her, though it didn't look like she wanted to sleep. Todoku herself was hiding in the bush near her home staring at the young elegant demon about 60 or 70 paces before her.

"You know," Inga's voice startled Todoku in her hiding place. "Demons can often feel when there are eyes on them…."

Inga was right, if Todoku stared any longer he might just pursue her trying to blind her so she didn't stare any longer.

But…

It was too hard not to! He was so handsome and the Dog General's son! She finally had gotten to meet him and desperately wanted to get to know him better; totally forgetting that he almost killed her just moments earlier. But Inga was right, perhaps she should just go to bed.

Looking forlorn, "Okay Inga, I'll go to bed,"

Inga hadn't meant to make her sad, but she needed her little neko-hanyou to go to bed so she can get to work first thing in the morning. Running a hospital was no easy feat and only Todoku could heal so many patients at once with her special healing power, not only that, but she needed to gather herbs for those with illnesses. Todoku can heal broken bones , cuts, slices and punctures, but she's yet to master healing internal illnesses. She was happy that she managed to move on from the Dog General's death, but tearing her from this new demon would probably be a challenge.


	2. Chapter 1: Please Be Okay

**Chapter One: Please be Okay**

**A/N: Before you get into this chapter, know that I considered the episode "The Woman Who Loved Sesshoumaru" a non-canon side story. Well…it is. So I didn't follow the events that happened in that episode as I make up my own here. You'll see when you read it, so I'll have no flaming about it, kay?**

Todoku, Inga, and Alanna were out in the fields picking herbs for the small hospital that her father built when he had discovered his child harbored healing powers and expressed to him that she wanted to help those hurt and injured. He wanted to make his little girl happy and one way he did was build a foundation for her to start her vocation.

It was closed since she had been sealed by Banyou, a demon that also possessed spiritual powers. It's frightening that a demon even possess something that was contradictory to his own spirit, but he was her father's enemy. And he had sealed her for over 200 years.

Now the hospital was open, but the only patients that Todoku was getting were demons. Lesser demons, but demons none the less. She even had a number of loving demon nurses that took care of the place when Todoku couldn't. She was proud of what she had built and her father would be proud too, if only her father would have returned to see it.

Todoku sighed as she thought of her father. It's now been about 6 months since she's been awake from her 200 year seal and her father still hasn't returned to see if his daughter had truly been resurrected. The news seemed to have echoed all over the land about her resurrection, but the only one who didn't seem to hear it was her old man.

Alanna was first to pick up on her distress. "Hey, you okay?"

"I'm just wondering about father again," she said simply. "You said that he sent you two back to see if I would be awaken just by Banyou's death right? Well I'm alive, but he hasn't even come back to see if his hunch was correct…"

"I'm sure he's okay," Inga came in; somehow it seemed that they were keeping a something from the poor hanyou, but she couldn't be sure.

Todoku sat silent after that. She just didn't know what to say. But she did also realize that someone other than her father hasn't come back. Sesshoumaru hasn't been back to the forest since that little meeting they had about 6 months ago as well. She'd been hoping that he'd return, just to relax in her forest or something. It was getting to the point that she was almost begging aloud in her prayers.

"_I only ran into him that once, but still I long to see him again….why do I feel so…"_ her thoughts were cut off by the sight of a large ball of light dive bombing into her forest. The impact was so hard that the ground shook and Todoku fell over from her kneeling position, losing her basket of herbs.

"What the hell was that?!" Alanna reacted.

"I don't know, but I'm going to check it out!" Todoku immediately leapt up and headed toward the place of impact. Something was telling her gut that she wasn't going to like this…at all.

"Todoku! Wait! Don't go alone!" Alanna called after her.

"Right, there's no telling what danger there is there!" Inga got up hastily to follow her. Todoku didn't hear it; she kept at top speed heading toward the mysterious impact site.

They ran for about a minute until Inga nearly ran into Todoku when she had stopped suddenly in her tracks. Todoku stood in utter shock at the sight before her. It was Sesshoumaru; lying in a pool of his own blood that kept growing so he had to be spewing multitudes from somewhere.

"Sesshoumaru!" Todoku yelled out, her heart in her throat. She ran to his side praying that he was at least still breathing, but first she had to stop the blood flow. She looked around his body, it wasn't really coming from the gash in his chest, but when she finally discovered it, she gagged.

"What's wrong?" Inga said inspecting the damage with her.

"His arm….His left arm is gone!" Todoku immediately needed something to cut off the heavy bleeding. The only thing she could think of is the small golden obi she wore.

"What are you doing?" Alanna cried when she had finally caught up to them. To her, it appeared that Todoku was undressing as she untied the only thing keeping her small sleeveless kosode-style kimono closed.

"I have to stop the blood, I don't have anything else with me," Todoku said thinking on her feet as she wound the beautiful gold sash tightly around the remainder of Sesshoumaru's arm. "Inga, you and Alanna go see if you can find the arm, maybe we can still attach it," Todoku panted. Her vassals nodded and left her side knowing that Todoku knew what she was doing. Others from the hospital followed the commotion to find their head doctor kneeling by the side of a very injured demon and joined in to see if they could help.

Todoku lifted up the great dog demon's head and tried to beat gently on his chest to stimulate his breathing to start up again without hitting the gash strike to his chest and abdomen. "C'mon….c'mon! Please…come back to me. I'll never forgive myself if I let you die here. If I let you die, period!" Todoku unsuccessfully forced back tears in her eyes as her efforts became frantic. Seconds turned to minutes. "DON'T DIE ON ME, PLEASE!"

His head felt foggy, all he could see was darkness. Sesshoumaru felt incredibly tired and wanted to retire into sleep not knowing that if he did so, he wouldn't wake up again. He then heard a voice, a familiar voice. "Who is that?" he called into the darkness. He tried rooting around in the inky blackness but found he couldn't move his arms, matter of fact, there was an unspeakable pain coming from his upper left arm, which his he felt his anger boiling as he remembered his arm was gone forever in his father's grave.

But even his anger couldn't fight the fatigue and his urge to sleep. At the same time, he wanted to figure out why there was some sort of repetitive pressure on his chest. And who the heck was calling out to him!

"Sesshoumaru….Sesshoumaru… Please open your eyes! Please! Don't die on me!" he heard this voice more clearly this time. It was urgent and pleading, tears resonated in her voice.

"Open….my eyes. I'm dying?!" Sesshoumaru said.

His eyes opened and he coughed up the blood that clotted in his throat blocking his airway. With the first intake of air a rush of intense pain shook his entire body. Pain so intense that he couldn't hold back the wailing roar that escaped him.

"Thank Goodness!" that familiar voice exclaimed. His vision was blurry at first but the cleared to see the half-demon that healed his hand a few months ago. The half demon that smiled at him and welcomed him into her forest though he tried to kill her. This time, her face was filled with tears of joy. Obviously really happy over something.

He then remembered hearing her voice asking him not to die. _"She's overjoyed….because I didn't die?"_ He felt something else just then. It wasn't pain, it was a leap in his chest, a leap that made him feel very warm and comforted; as if it was melting a part of him that was frozen. Sesshoumaru couldn't even name this feeling, but whatever it was it seemed to ease his physical pain to a degree.

"You're going to be okay, just stay awake with me," She said trying to lift him. "We need to get him to…. Damn, Sesshoumaru! Are you made of solid iron?" The others that were at the ready came in to help carry the great demon lord made of nothing but muscle along with heavy silk, heavy armor, and a feeling of dead weight as his body was paralyzed.

"My lady there are no more beds in the hospital," he heard one of them say.

"I know where there's one more bed," she told them as she was leading them into the forest toward her home.

They were off toward the destination implied and all that helped her, not just Sesshoumaru, could see the fortitude in her demeanor. It even caused some there to wonder if this was a very good friend of hers.

"Pull back the comforter!" she called and they pulled the large comforter off the very futon that Todoku herself sleeps on. They laid him down gently, Todoku pulled out a cloth that wrapped around her nose and mouth and began to go to work working loose his yellow and blue (very complicatedly tied) obi and removed his armor, then to his kimono…which both were actually intact.

The only way Todoku knew of his abdominal injury was because she does have very accurate senses when it comes to finding and treating injuries. One of her demon nurses came and tied a thin black rope around Todoku's waist. "There you are my lady, love your determination…even if it does mean becoming immodest!" she smiled. To her surprise, Todoku's kimono didn't even come apart the entire time.

Todoku could barely turn her head to say thank you, "Thanks, I'm wondering how his kimono and armor are unharmed, yet he has a very serious gash in his gut…"

"Well, he could've been in a different form. Remember, demons can roam around in more than one appearance, especially in battle…" the same nurse said.

"I see…_I wonder what his real form looks like…_" Todoku pulled back his bloodied expensive fabric. Her heart dropped. Bones in his lungs and stomach as well as almost being divided in half. His intestines were also slashed and pouring out deadly toxins to the rest of his body. "My word, what on earth did this to you?" she looked toward him. But he hastily looked away. He wasn't even going to dignify that with an answer.

Todoku shook her head, "Nevermind, sorry I asked…" She just continued to treat him. "This'll hurt a bit…" she said as she pulled a rib out of his lung. Sesshoumaru did his best to keep his calm with every bone she pulled from his organs. She then took her hands and ran them over the gashes. A bright blue light emanated from her palms and began to reform and reattach his rib bones and seal his gashes to any of his organs. Then with one more swipe over of her glowing claws she sealed the gash completely. Though it did leave behind a gruesome scar.

"No stitches required. Nice one Lady Todoku as always!" the nurse cheered.

Huffing and puffing, Todoku had to use an incredible amount of power for that feat, and she wasn't even done. "Thanks, but I don't have the power to heal the scar, he'll have to do that on his own. I have to save some power for his arm. How's it doing over there, anyway?" she asked another nurse monitoring the severed limb.

"Some blood is still leaking, but it's not as bad as it was…" the nurse seemed relieved, but it still worried Todoku, he could be _running out_ of blood to leak out…

Alanna and Inga finally returned. "We're sorry, but we couldn't find the arm…" Inga said.

"We searched everywhere but found no blood trails or any other trace of his arm…"Alanna added.

"Shit…I'm sorry…you're going to be an amputee," Todoku said coming around with a bowl of herbs to his left side.

Sesshoumaru just closed his eyes. His breathing was a little heavy, but other than that his condition was stable. Todoku rubbed in the crushed herbs to his open wound causing Sesshoumaru to flinch a bit. Todoku then gave her last bit of energy to close the wound for good.

His eyes may have been closed, but he could tell she was over exerting herself to heal him. Todoku panted, "I know what you're thinking. Demons are powerful enough to heal on their own eventually. Let's just say I'm speeding up the process for you. However, you've lost so much blood, even a demon of your stature will have a hard time getting back to health,"

"Heh…" Sesshoumaru huffed, almost as if he was mocking her. Then he fell unconscious.

"Ah! My lady?" A nurse asked. "He's slipping!"

"It's alright, he's just unconscious. He's still breathing and heartbeat is okay, let him rest…"

Todoku could use a rest herself. However, she dismissed her nurses back to the hospital and had to crush more herbs for Sesshoumaru's healing process. She had a long night ahead of her and though she did wish to see him again, seeing him in pain was the last thing she would've wished for.

She felt she had no right to rest…


End file.
